Back Hooks and Other Traps: Pitt Wrestling's Taleb Rahmani
Photo courtesy of Pitt Athletics
This article is part of our first “long article” request through Patreon! A huge thank you to Alteroc (@crwate01) for this excellent topic suggestion.
In an effort to learn more about combat sports, Alteroc laid out an article format that covers three athletes from a specific sport:
An all-time great
A specialist
Someone “weird”
For our first edition of the Alteroc series, I focused on my own area of expertise - wrestling. We’ll be releasing each of the three athlete profiles one at a time. First, we had #2, a specialist. That article profiled Irakli Mtsituri, a Georgian 92 kg World bronze medalist known for his high amplitude offense and counters.
Next up, #3 - someone “weird”.
Taleb Rahmani
The following study can actually be found through this link, as a video breakdown. All clips analyzed can be found in the description.
When it comes to high school wrestling, there are fairly defined tiers of competition from state to state. When discussing the absolute best states for folkstyle in the US, the generally accepted list includes Pennsylvania, California, New Jersey, and Ohio. Generally, within the “rust belt”, it’s a tremendous accomplishment to win a state wrestling title.
In his four years wrestling in Marysville, Ohio, Algerian-American Taleb Rahmani qualified for the state tournament four times. After placing fourth, seventh, and fourth again, Rahmani capped off his high school career with a championship at 152 pounds. The title win came over his good friend Tim Rooney, who defeated him at the sectional and district tournaments on the way to states. Rooney, now a starter for Kent State at 133, has racked up over 100 Division 1 wins along with his single trip to the NCAA tournament.
Even in high school, Rahmani stood out stylistically. While fairly quick, with strong hips, Rahmani isn’t the typical athlete you find in wrestling. Instead of powering through techniques and attempting to break opponents physically, he focused on mastering leverage and scoring opportunistically, giving him more of a “freestyle” feel.
While it’s tough to say for certain, this style is likely the product of training with the great Miron Kharchilava. A native of Abkhazia, an autonomous nation within Georgia, Kharchilava was a standout on the Soviet national scene before defecting to the United States in the early 90s. After earning a collegiate national title in his sole year of eligibility, Kharchilava coached at Ohio State University, leading the team to new heights. In more recent years, Miron focuses on youth coaching in Ohio, leading Team Miron and guiding his son Carson (who goes by Carson “Kharchla”), the nation’s top recruit heading into college.
In the finals of the 2018 Wrestling World Championship at 97 kg, pound-for-pound #1 Abdulrashid Sadulaev avenged his loss to Kyle Snyder by pinning him, utilizing an unorthodox technique off a failed single leg.
Forcing Snyder to post as he adjusted the single, Sadulaev reached back and hooked over one of Snyder’s posting arms, rolling through to that now blocked side. Once Snyder exposed, Sadulaev switched from the single back hook to double, eventually adjusting for the pin.
The vast majority of fans were amazed, they had either never seen the technique before, or wrote it off as a “junior high move” that would never work at a high level.
But those who followed the University of Pittsburgh’s Taleb Rahmani knew quite well how effective the “back hooks” could be.
While certainly not at the very highest World level, Rahmani surprised some of the toughest wrestlers in the country with his sneaky counter tactics. It’s likely that he was taught this technique by Miron Kharchilava, and that the Eastern European systems are far more open to risky or unorthodox techniques than we tend to see in the US.
Rahmani may not be garnering All-American honors (yet) or winning national titles with this approach, for a multitude of reasons, but if you’re looking for someone who succeeds at a relatively high level with a “weird” style, this is your guy.
If you’re interested in viewing the film study on this future Olympian, follow this link!